“Stop the Violence” was the theme at the McComb Branch NAACP’s Martin Luther King celebration at the Bo Diddley Pavilion on Railroad Boulevard Saturday morning.
Local law officers presented a program that they had previously given in the McComb, North Pike and South Pike schools.
McComb Deputy Police Chief Delre Smith and new Summit Chief Alex Miller demonstrated trying to help a victim at the scene.
Pike County Coroner Wally Jones said homicide victims’ bodies are taken to the state crime lab in Pearl and preserved for evidence. He said this occurred 23 times in 2022.
District Attorney Dee Bates said 18,000 lives were lost to homicide in 2022 and his office helps present the evidence to grand juries.
“We do not know how important this is,” said McComb Branch NAACP President Mamie Kettle. “We have had a request from Hazlehurst School District because we had major coverage of our presentation about gun violence. It has gone viral, and you are here to be able to see it for yourself.”
Randall Wanzo spoke about his son, Austin D. Wanzo, 20.
Austin Wanzo died after being shot at the corner of Summit Street and Moore Avenue in McComb on June 21, 2020.
“Austin Wanzo was a wonderful young man,” Wanzo said. “He was a young guy that wanted to be successful in life. He had a beautiful smile.
“I didn’t know that my son touched so many people. This guy was 20 years old when his life was taken from him by gun violence.”
Wanzo said Austin touched more lives at age 20 than many people have at 70. He noted his son was not perfect, but had great leadership and could have been mayor one day.
“It’s amazing the way God works,” he said. “He was a young man that loved everybody. You could do something wrong, and this man would still love you. He wouldn’t harm you, no matter who you are. All he wanted to do was live his life, like these young kids out here now.”
Wanzo said there should have been no room to stand at Saturday’s event, and more people would have been there if they went through the same things he had.
“It’s just sad to say that our young black men are killing each other like flies,” he said.
Wanzo said he does not know who young black girls will be able to marry in the future.
“Because all the young black boys will be gone. Either they’re going to be in prison or dead,” he said. “So who are our daughters going to marry?”
Wanzo said it is sad that older people who have worked hard all of their lives have to stay locked up in their homes.
“If you see something that’s wrong, tell somebody about it,” he said. “Tell somebody about that situation.”
Wazno said Pike County is the worst place to him in his heart right now.
“This is where I grew up, walked the streets, worked at, my family grew up, and it’s the same town, Pike County, that my son was murdered,” he said. “So I have a bittersweet.”
Wanzo said he will be in Pike County until the thugs kill him. He acknowledged crime is everywhere, but stressed the importance of taking care of Pike County.
“Let’s get together and fix where we could live a comfortable life,” he said.
Jacquelyn Bryant swore in the McComb Branch NAACP officers, including Kettle as president, Lisa Augustine as first vice president, Natasha Lee as second vice president, Gabrielle Jackson as third vice president, Stephanie Jenkins as secretary, Freddie Bates as assistant secretary, Jessie Caston as treasurer and Joan Garner as assistant treasurer.
Stephanie Jenkins led a memorial service for McComb Branch NAACP members who died in the last year, including life member Virginia Hollins, Suzette Pittman, longtime community leader Fern Crossley, Pike County judge candidate Amelia Carter and McComb Selectman John Bates.
Emily Rembert read the poem “Stronger Together.”
“In every march, Dr. King walked with people arm in arm, so let us follow his lead and lock together heart to heart,” said Rembert, reading the poem. “This is a good place for us to make a start.”
Rembert said King set an example to the point of losing his life, but did not loosen his grip and held on to his faith in God when he went to jail.
